During the barren first half, the Ambala club continued to hold sway with mid-fielders Mahipal and captain Binder initiating good moves down the flanks. But, as in numerous occasions, their forwards failed to latch on to the passes and put them into account.

However, the trend reversed after change of ends. Shastri suddenly started combining well and created opportunities, thanks to striker Bhupinder Thakur and Mohd. Atiq. But they were guilty of not able to finish, letting the Ambala defenders clear them out of harm's way.

Inside-right Atiq, however, made amends for his earlier follies and struck the match-winner with few minutes to go for the whistle. Atiq received a measures pass from Gyano Ranjan and placed home to seal the fate of the Aryans.

RCF took the lead in their group A match when inside-left Naresh Kumar capitalised on a rebound off JK Bank goalkeeper Hilal Rasool midway through the first session. But they could not do much in the remaining period as the teams went for breather.

On return, the fresh looking RCF added one more to the tally through Davinder Singh. This was a fine solo effort and came in the 51st minute.

Down in the dumps, JK Bank regrouped themselves and, all of a sudden, the flanks started functioning as a well-knit unit. This borne fruit, though not immediately, as Deepak succeeded in reducing the margin 20 minutes later.

They could have restored parity and even challenged their opponents but for Deepak's failures to work on Zahoor and Tariq feeds.